The unbearable conspicuousness of being foreign

I have arrived! I am in Belgrade! So this is my first entry since actually arriving in Serbia. Not much exciting has happened so far, but I will give a brief synopsis of my trip up to this point…

Part 1 – The Journey…

After a tearful good-bye to my trusty side-kick, Monkey Morus, and an immensely helpful airport assist from Paul and the kind folks at Newark airport, my first leg from Newark to London was great. In fact, I had like 5 seats to myself so I was able to lie down, catch a couple hours of sleep and watch some movies.

Arriving disoriented and exhausted at Heathrow, I then schlepped my all too heavy carry-on bags through the airport, was stopped for what seemed like an eternity at security while they took apart all of my things, purchased a lovely and affordable utilitarian wrist-watch at duty-free (thanks to the deflated British Pound), ate an English breakfast and settled in to wait for what seemed like days (but was only 5 hours) for my connecting flight to Belgrade.

I had feared that both I and my bags would be lost upon arrival, but things went smoothly as I was met by a driver from the university here, and was whisked away to my new Belgrade digs. On the way I was treated to an excited litany of all Belgrade nightlife might have to offer (NOTE: it is possible that the driver thought I was 25 instead of 35). Upon arriving at my new flat, I was met by Aci & Caca (my new landlords) who were helpful and kind. While I had been awake for nearly 36 hours at this point and everytime I blinked I would begin to dream, my landlords were infinitely helpful – taking me to the police station for the obligatory guest registry, and then to the local grocery store where Caca sweetly helped me gather food for the next day.

After unpacking I went to sleep that first night, expecting to sleep deep and long into the next day. Oddly enough, although exhausted, jet lag has hit me harder this time than ever before! It is now the beginning of my third day here, and I seem to fall asleep like an elderly person…often and fitfully, in whatever position I sit for more than 10 minutes! But I wake every few hours.

Part 2 – my small world so far…

My flat is a cute, top floor apartment in what I have been told is the city center. (However the fact that the street signs are all in the Cyrillic alphabet has kept me from venturing more than 2 blocks in any direction at this point so I may be in Russia for all I know.) The place is spacious, but also sparsely furnished, so at some point I will need to find the Serbian equivalent of a thrift shop. All I really need to fill the place out is a hair dryer, a comfortable writing table/desk, and a few power strips (clearly people do not plug-in many things here!)

My second day was largely spent imitating the cat I left behind – sleep, eat, clean self, repeat. I ventured out in the late afternoon, but upon realizing that I had not taken a map, and could not read the street signs, I did not go far. I feel so small right now…so conspicuously foreign and stupid! I have been so shy to speak outloud, even though I have been speaking the language in my head constantly. This will all improve within the next few days, but for now it is a little scary!

Day three I began to reach out to those whose phone numbers I had been given. I needed to contact the agency for which I will work next week, as well as contact the representative from the embassy that will help me with my residency visa. I also contacted a few folks whose numbers I had from my last visit to this city (a visit that was made nearly effortless thanks to the accompaniment of my assistant who had grown up here – god I wish she was here now…but I am a big girl and I can do this all by myself!).

So today is day 4 – it is Friday. I am up grossly early and waiting to be picked up by Igor – the embassy rep who will start me on the way to legal residency. He will also take me to buy a hair dryer and a Serbian SIM card for my mobile phone. With luck I will also get a map today and maybe even find the right GPS maps for my hand-held Garmin so I can actually navigate this city!

I am excited to get familiar with everything so I can start being productive. I vow today to speak out loud in Serbian, and to expand my world further than my 2 blocks. By Monday when I need to start work, I vow to know where that work is located and to get there without freak-out. I also vow to have coffee with at least 2 different people so as to jump-start my social/professional network.

I will soon provide photos for those interested. As of now, when I look out the window of my flat, things look muddy, grey and depressed…not the city I remember from the summer time!

So with these somewhat dull details I will sign-off for now. My next entry will be more interesting, colorful and deserving of your attention. Now…I go to meet Igor to start broadening my world. I hate the first few humbling days of being a foreigner, but I look forward to the eventual adjustment that is on the horizon when I love living in a new place. I know it will come soon!

Thanks for reading…until next time…Xina